States of Sudan

Below is a list of the 18 states of Sudan, organized by their original provinces during the period of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Arabic language versions are, as appropriate, in parentheses. States that were not provinces before 1994 are marked with (*). Transliterations from Arabic to English may vary; in particular, the article "al" is sometimes transliterated as "el". Numbers correspond to those of the map at right. Prior to 9 July 2011, the Republic of Sudan was composed of 25 states. The ten southern states now form part of the independent country of South Sudan. Two additional states were created in 2012 within the Darfur region, and one in 2013 in Kurdufan, bringing the total to 18.

States of the Republic of Sudan

The following 18 states form the territory of the Republic of Sudan.

• Sennar Province
  • Al Qadarif (13)
  • Al Jazirah (9)
  • Blue Nile (An Nil al Azraq) (5)
  • Sennar (*) (14)
  • White Nile (An Nil al Abyad) (10)
• Darfur Province (a Darfur Regional Authority also existed between 2006 and 2016)
  • Central Darfur (Wasat Darfur) (*) (16)
  • East Darfur (Sharq Darfur) (*) (17)
  • North Darfur (Shamal Darfur) (6)
  • South Darfur (Janub Darfur) (7)
  • West Darfur (Gharb Darfur) (15)
• Kassala Province (an Eastern Sudan States Coordinating Council also exists)
  • Kassala (Ash Sharqiyah) (4)
  • Red Sea (Al Bahr al Ahmar) (12)
• Kurdufan Province
  • North Kurdufan (Shamal Kurdufan) (2)
  • South Kurdufan (Janub Kurdufan) (8)
  • West Kurdufan (Gharb kurdufan) (18) (reestablished in 2013)^[1][2]
• Merowe Province
  • Northern (Ash Shamaliyah) (3)
  • River Nile (Nahr an Nil) (11)
  • Khartoum State (1)

History

  South Sudan (held referendum in 2011, seceded in July 2011)

  Abyei (to hold referendum in 2011, postponed indefinitely)

  States to hold "popular consultations" in 2011: South Kordofan (process suspended) and Blue Nile (status unclear)

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan had eight mudiriyat, or provinces, which were ambiguous when created but became well defined by the beginning of the World War II. The eight provinces were: Blue Nile, Darfur, Equatoria, Kassala, Khartoum, Kurdufan, Northern, and Upper Nile. In 1948, Bahr al Ghazal split from Equatoria.
There were numerous new provinces created on 1 July 1973. North and South Darfur were created from Darfur, while Kurdufan divided into North and South Kordofan. Al Jazirah and White Nile were split off from Blue Nile. River Nile split off from Northern. Red Sea was split off from Kassala.
A further fracturing of provinces occurred in 1976. Lakes split from Bahr al Ghazal, and Jonglei split off from Upper Nile. Equatoria divided into East and Western Equatoria. There were thus eighteen provinces. In 1991, the government reorganized the administrative regions into nine federal states, matching the nine provinces that had existed from 1948 to 1973. On 14 February 1994, the government reorganized yet again, creating twenty-six wilayat (states). The majority of the wilayat were either the old provinces or administrative subregions of a province. As part of the new government structure in South Sudan in 2005, Bahr al Jabal was renamed Central Equatoria. In 2006, West Kurdufan was split and merged with North Kurdufan and South Kordofan.
In January 2012, the new states of Central Darfur and East Darfur were created in the Darfur region, bringing the total number of states to 17.^[3] In July 2013, West Kurdufan was reestablished.^[4][5]